Retirement & Insurance

Retirement & Insurance

— Read on chocolatecastles.com/2015/11/06/retirement-insurance/

This song came to my mind this morning as I sat here thinking about tomorrow and the election. “From CA to the Gulf Streams Waters, this land was made for you and me.”

Tomorrow will be one of those days that will mark, in so many lives, a day which will not soon be forgot. No matter your political preference, it will certainly be a day that might change the course of the America that we have known for hundreds of years. It dawned on me as I sat with the Bible in my lap reading in 2 Chronicles 7 today that I have been thinking about the outcome all wrong. This scripture in Chapter 7 of Chronicles says, “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and seek my face, I will hear from Heaven and heal their land.” In my mind, I have been thinking that the only way God can heal this land is for the party which represents my core values, to win tomorrow. But God……..God will be on HIs throne no matter the outcome. He can still heal this land though ways which we might not understand. Like the Bible tells us, “His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.” We, as people who have proclaimed that God is our Lord and have tried to live according to what we feel represents Him, have the idea that we can only be healed if the person who leads the Republican party, wins the election . But God…maybe, just maybe, God will allow America to go through some painful years of seeing just what happen when we have sat back and allowed God to be pushed out of every aspect of our lives. We have told God He was not invited in our schools, our politics, sometimes even our churches and yet, even not in our homes. We say that we want to live in a “Christian country” but we live as though we don’t need Christ. We have become hard hearted, and have tried to live in such a way that most days, we don’t give Him a thought. We think it is because of the hard work we have done that we have what we have. The road rage that fills our highways, the anger we see in protesting, the disrespect we see in the political debates and the political commercials. Is this the America that was “made for you and me?”

Is this the country we want our kids and grandchildren to grow up?”

A sweet friend of mine has a book coming out tomorrow which is called 24 Karat. It is a study on how to shine for God. Tomorrow will give Christians an opportunity to truly shine for Him. How will you respond to the results? How will I respond to the results? Will our lives shine in such a way that points others to God?

Yesterday our pastor shared that no matter the outcome of the elections, we are to look upward, outward and inward. Will my actions be to look up to the God who is still on His throne. Will I look outward to others to show that Christ is in my heart and gives me a love for others who might have totally different opinions that mine. Will I look inward to my heart to see who is truly on the throne of my heart, leading me to shine His light as I live each day, showing God’s love to everyone I meet, no matter their thoughts, their actions and their political opinions.

Yes, this land was made for you and for me. It was given to us to enjoy, to take care of and to love and give back what we have to the One who created it. To truly heal this land, we all need, myself included, to allow God to heal our hearts and for us to humble our selves until the mighty Hand of God. Then and only then will our land be healed…….

Since I’m not able to write blog on Apple computer now on WordPress I will post from my phone. Am missing sharing and posting especially during this time of year that we love to call Fall (aka eat everything you want that has pumpkin, apples or ginger in it). And of course butter. I know I have already posted these a few years back but in making them today I thought I would share the idea again with you as they are so easy and so good. Makes 24 mini muffin pan size cups!

1 large bag of unmade Betty Crocker Oatmeal cookies mix

Follow directions on back of mix

Place a medium cookie scoop (about 1 tables) in each mini muffin cup

Bake in preheated 375 oven for about 12-13 min. Or until they feel solid when u touch the top. Remove from oven.

Immediately use back of jigger or a Thumpkin (if u have one) to indent the “cookie”

Place about a teas of apple filling *(see below)in each cookie. Cool and serve with drizzled caramel over the top or warm with a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream.

Apple filling

Using a can of apple slices Lucky Leaf is a good brand, cut each apple slice in time pieces. Place apples in about 2 Tablespoons of melted butter in a small skillet. Add 2 teas cinnamon and 1/4 cup brown sugar to apples! Cook over low heat until butter and sugar are melted and apples have softened a bit!

Working on the web site to see if we can get it to work.

Before you stick out your tongue and start saying you don’t like cabbage, let me just say that even if you don’t, I promise this is a casserole that you will love. Someone told me that I needed to watch Cooking With Brenda, a little lady from Alabama. Well, I did today. I’m not much for watching a bunch of videos, but I couldn’t help but watch when she started making several Southern casseroles that just screams, “yes, I belong on the veggie table at every church put luck or family reunion!” Immediately I ran to the kitchen and made it. Then when we had it for dinner, we both knew that this would be at our Easter meal with ham and a pot of green beans, and, at Thanksgiving with turkey and dressing. Trust me on this, it is just delicious! As Ms. Brenda said on her video, just always use what you have in the pantry and you can’t go wrong. (unless you are like some of our family members who don’t have anything that resembles any Campbells cream soups or a stick of butter in the house. But….this casserole will make it worth the trip to the store to get some soup and butter.

I used a 9×9″ baking pan, Brenda used a oblong casserole baking dish. Because there are only two of us, I figured that how much damage can a 9×9 do to Randy’s cholesterol as he goes at 9 am in the morning to get it checked. So here it is folks and you can thank me later.

1 small head of cabbage, cut into pieces, no certain size, just chopped up, not real fine or small. But not too big. Ask the papa bear how to get it just the right size.

1 small Vidalia onion or 2 small onions, chopped

Place the cabbage in the dish, place the chopped onion over the cabbage. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Stir 1 can of Cream of Chicken ( i only had cream of celery on hand so used that)

1 cup of Mayo

1/4 cup melted butter.

Stir the soup with the mayo and melted butter. Spoon over the onion-cabbage mixture being sure and covering all over.

Using 1 sleave of Ritz crackers, smash the crackers and put in a clean bowl. Pour 1 stick of melted butter over the crackers and stir to combine.

Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese over the cabbage-onion mixture. Then sprinkle the butter-cracker crumbs over the cheese.

Place in preheated 350 oven for 45 minutes. Remove when casserole is bubbling and cracker crumbs are golden brown. Thank you Ms. Brenda for sharing this awesome easy casserole with us. It is my new favorite veggie.

We have been trying to have more meatless meals these last few months and with dishes like this, it is just amazing how much we do not miss meat.

Had this dish tonight with cornbread dressing, baked sweet potato, black eyed peas. It was a feast fit for anyone who loves Southern Cooking!

Last week I picked up a box of Krusteaz Cornbread mix. We were having a pot of beans and wanted to have cornbread. For some reason when I saw this box, it dawned on me that I had never made this brand before. Knowing that I do love the Krusteaz brand of other items like their muffin mixes, I decided to throw caution to the wind and get of out my comfort zone of just always making Jiffy cornbread. Actually, it was good, but maybe it is just me getting old and set in my ways, but I still like the Jiffy the best. BUT…..on the back of the box was this great sounding salad. So (please forgive me Krusteaz people) I will be making this recipe, but using Jiffy cornbread instead.

Dressing:

1 cup Mayonnaise

1/4 cup sweet pickle juice

Salad:

3 cups baked Cornbread, cubed in 1″ squares

12 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

3 cups chopped tomatoes

1 cup finely diced celery

1 cup finely chopped purple onion (I think I will use 1/2 cup purple onion and 1/2 cup chopped green onion)

1/2 cup chopped sweet pickles

Dressing: Whisk together the mayo and juice and set aside.

Salad:

Layer half of the cornbread in a large bowl. Combine remaining salad ingredients; spoon half over cornbread. Drizzle half of dressing over these vegetables. Repeat the layers. Chill 2-3 hours before serving.

Makes 12 servings

I know what you are thinking….there are a 1000 recipes out there for green chile stew. BUT….this one is a little different and the flavor was just so yummy….(if Leanne Morgan can use yummy, so can I). Last night we had this and we both just looked at each other and said, “we have a winner”. Made a whole other batch of it today to take to some of our family tomorrow. Used pork instead of chicken. So here it is, yes it took a little more time, but after all, we are still in a mode of not too much to do other than going to pick up food and watch TV. So enjoy these couple of days of cooler weather and grab a bowl of this stew. You will be oh so glad you did.

In the morning put a small pork roast in the crockpot and pour about 1/2 jar of Herdez salsa Casera over the pork. (got it at Walmart or Kroger, comes in mild, medium or hot so get the one that you like). Add 1 cup of water to the crock pot and sprinkle ground black pepper, garlic powder to your liking and some dried parsley over the meat. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or until roast tests done. When meat is done, remove from crock pot and set on a platter to cool so you can cut it up into small pieces. In a heavy saucepan, combine the drippings that are left in the crockpot to a 2 cup measuring cup. If needed, add chicken broth to the drippings to make 2 cups. Should you have 2 cups of liquid from the drippings without adding water, only use one cup of drippings and 1 cup of chicken broth or water and save the rest for the soup.

In the heavy saucepan, add the 2 cups of the liquid and add 1 cup of rice. Bring to a boil and then stir and cover with close fitting lid. Turn heat to low and cook for 23-25 minutes. When rice is done, stir and remove lid so it doesn’t get sticky.

Cut up 1 cup of celery, 1 cup of onion, 2 carrots and one green or red bell pepper and 1 small can of diced green chiles. Saute this mixture in about 2 tables butter combined with 1 tables vegetable oil, until veggies are beginning to become tender. Place these in the an oven proof pan (I used my roaster that I use for roasts and spaghetti sauce and soups because it is heavy and makes the broth thick when you bake sauces in it), Add 2 cups of the cut up pork and 2 (15 oz) cans of chicken broth, 1 (15 oz) can of Hatch Green Chile Enchilada sauce (once again, pick your poison, mild or hot). If you had left over drippings left over from meat, you can also add that to the stew, as it will only add more great flavor. Add 1 cup up mexican squash or zucchini to this and bake in oven, covered, for about 2 to 3 hours on 325 or until veggies are all done.

To serve, spoon the desired amount of cooked rice to each bowl and spoon the green pork chile over the top. You can top with some fresh cilantro and sour cream if desired. We had ours with some great homemade corn bread that I added some green chiles to the batter and hd sprinkled a little light brown sugar over the top before baking. This sounds weird, but the sweetness of the sugar gives the cornbread such a wonderful flavor. Especially with the green chile stew.

Bringing Respect to America

Bringing Respect to America

— Read on chocolatecastles.com/2015/09/07/bringing-respect-to-america/